The sensitives

82 min. documentary, 2017

For the increasing number of people who are suffering from environmental illnesses, the modern world is full of unseen threats. Pesticides, perfumes, cell phones—any of these can send a “sensitive” into a debilitating downward spiral.

Stunningly cinematic, The Sensitives, documents three families struggling with these issues. Joe, too sick to care for himself, faces an impossible choice: an uncertain future with his ever-burdened family or the lure of a safe community built for sensitives like him, far away. Twin brothers Sam and Nathan live with their mother, Karen, inside a sterilized safe home they haven’t left in years but a tragedy causes upheaval and uprooting in their fragile existence. And Susie, who decamped from society for a remote desert homestead decades ago, has finally found relief but contemplates leaving to advocate for awareness, risking her own health.

Shot over three years, the film captures the hope and humanity that makes the marginalized undeniably relatable.